Transcript Welcome! [datacenter.aucegypt.edu]

http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/clt
Presents:
Workshop For
TAs/RAs & Graduate Students
RESEARCH
SKILLS
Professor Pandeli M. Glavanis (PhD)
Associate Director, CLT
Workshop Structure
o Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
o Awareness of Research Environment
o 5 MINUTE BREAK
o Research Management
All Examples Are Extracted From
FINDING OUT FAST:
INVESTIGATIVE SKILLS
FOR
POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT
A THOMAS, J CHATAWAY & M WUYTS SAGE PUBLICATIONS, LONDON, 1998
I. Research Skills
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
The Ability To Recognize And Validate Problems
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
Knowledge Of Recent Advances Within
One’s Field And In Related Areas
A. Zimbabwe Cooperatives
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
BACKGROUND:
Coop movement was in trouble & foreign
NGO wants to help–commission research.
EXAMINE:
Tension between government & coop
movement; ways in which foreign NGOs
might provide further funding without
Increasing tension with government.
ASSUMPTIONS:
Government bureaucracy had turned
hostile despite political rhetoric.
Discussion
Workshop Structure
What Is The Research Problem ?
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
How Do You Validate It ?
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
What Is The Research Question ?
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
What Theoretical Context ?
Awareness of Research
Environment
What Background Knowledge ?
Research Management
Research In Zimbabwe
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Most coops were in fact in serious trouble;
Many government officials were hostile;
Foreign NGOs had created dependency;
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
BUT ALSO FOUND
OUT THAT
Problem of attitude:
All saw coops as political, charitable
social organisations;
A few successful coops which operated
as commercial entities
More Assumptions
Workshop Structure
Coops were passive recipients
of charity from foreign NGOs;
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
AND
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
Business sector was
hostile to coop movement
New Research Question
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
How Can Foreign NGOs Help Coops To
Become:
- Politically and commercially independent
- Make best use of government and
business resources;
i.e. break dependency on foreign NGOs
B. Land In Mozambique
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
BACKGROUND:
Peasants are being pushed off the land and
afraid to talk about it. Foreign NGOs
concerned.
EXAMINE:
How to use public international pressure to
stop it. Foreign NGO commissions research.
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
ASSUMPTIONS:
Peasants cant defend themselves
Government uninterested in peasant plight
No public debate on issue
Discussion
Workshop Structure
• WHAT IS THE RESEARCH PROBLEM?
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
• HOW DO YOU VALIDATE IT?
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
• WHAT IS THE RESEARCH QUESTION?
 B.Land In Mozambique
• WHAT THEORETICAL CONCEPT?
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
• WHAT BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE?
Research In Mozambique
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
 Government has already established
National Land Commission to draft
revisions to law to safeguard peasant
rights;
 Several local NGOs raising public
awareness of the issue; and
 Local NGOs successful in helping some
peasants defend their rights. (i.e. struggle
to stop expropriation)
New Research Question
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
 How to assist and influence the work of
the National Land Commission?
 How to assist local NGOs to fight more
cases of expropriation?
C. Problem Of Assumptions
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 A.Zimbabwe Cooperatives
 B.Land In Mozambique
 C.Problem Of Assumptions
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
 Enter crowded airport lounge;
 See one empty chair & I go to sit when I
notice someone spilt a drink on the
cushion;
 I don’t have anything to wipe it so I sit on
table;
 Another passenger comes along, looks at
chair and turns the cushion over and sits.
WHY DID I
NOT
THINK OF
THAT?
II. Research Environment
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
Show a broad understanding of the context,
at the national and international level, in
which research takes place
A. Famine
Workshop Structure
 Famine is due to a shortfall in available
food
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
PARADOX
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
 In most famine areas food was being
exported during famine.
How can this happen?
Analytical Framework
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
 WHAT DOES IT INVLOVE TO “EXPORT”
FOOD?
 WHERE IT IS “EXPORTED” TO?
 WHO DOES IT?
 WHY DO THEY DO IT?
 WHO GETS IT?
 WHY DO THEY GET IT?
MARKET ECONOMY
Answer To Paradox
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
 Amartya Sen (Nobel Laureate in
Economics) has published extensively on
the subject and showed – from extensive
research – that:
 Market mechanisms (purchasing power)
usually attracts food to wealthy urban
areas and away from rural famine areas
who in fact produce the limited food.
B. Global Worming
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
Dispute between:
 World Resources Institute in Washington
 Centre for Science & Environment in India
WRI argues that China and India (as
countries) emit more CO2 than the EU or
Canada.
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
CSE challenged the results
Analytical Framework
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 IS IT SIGNIFICANT THAT WRI RELIES ON
“COUNTRIES” FOR ITS ANALYSIS?
 IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE “UNIT” THAT
CAN BE USED?
 WHERE DOES CO2 COME FROM?
 WHO PRODUCES IT?
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
POPULATION & WEALTH
CSE Challenge
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
 Emissions should be calculated
according to population size and by
country,
– Thus China and India are well below
the EU and Canada in global league
table.
and
 Luxury emissions should not be
compared to survival emissions.
– Driving to the shops vs. fuel for
cooking
IMPLICATIONS FOR GLOBAL POLICY?
C. Genetically Manipulated Organisms (GMOs)
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
 Third World Network (TWN) a Malaysian
NGO is trying to influence global policy
on GMOs
 TWN makes use of scientists from GMOs
producing countries who are opposed to
GMOs to support their case
IS THEIR METHODOLOGY OK?
Analytical Framework
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management






WHAT ARE KEY ISSUES IN GMOs ?
WHO IS AFFECTED?
WHY IS TWN INVOLVED IN CAMPAIGN?
WHY USE SCIENTISTS?
WHO ELSE COULD THEY USE?
IS IT A SCIENTIFIC ISSUE?
SCIENCE vs SOCIETY
Science Is Not Always The Answer
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
 The use of such scientists may give
scientific credibility to TWNs argument
BUT
Awareness of Research
Environment
 Turns the entire GMO debate into a
technical debate
 A.Famine
 B.Global Worming
 C.Genetically Manipulated
Organisms
Research Management
THUS RISK IS TECHNICAL
RATHER THAN SOCIAL IN NATURE
III. Research Management
Workshop Structure
Research Skills & Techniques
(Problem Of Assumptions)
Awareness of Research
Environment
Research Management
 Apply effective project management
through the setting of research goals,
intermediate milestones and prioritization
of activities
USING PROJECT MANAGEMENT
METHODLOGY
5 MINUTE BREAK